Army soldiers use social-media humor to help boost enlistments

Businessinsider reported that Army soldiers Tyler Butterworth and John Howell have built large social-media followings and use their personal accounts to help boost enlistments. Butterworth has over 6 million combined followers across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube after starting with a single dedicated follower — his mother — on an occasional Facebook account.

Howell said he used social media while tasked with growing a rural command village from 50 soldiers toward a goal of 132 and later said he'd helped grow it to "triple digits." Neither officially works as a recruiter, but both continue to post to influence potential enlistees. Both men said growing an audience required experimenting, and a shift to humorous, relatable content made the difference.

Butterworth said moving away from a strictly "strong, tough, fearless" tone to show that soldiers are "regular people" — "we like to laugh. We like to joke around" — helped engagement, and Howell said his recruiting effort improved after adopting comedic posts. Their work comes as recruiters say traditional methods are less effective as young people spend more time online; some branches, including the Army and Navy, exceeded recruiting goals in 2025, and reporter Kelsey Baker has found that quota pressure has previously caused recruiter burnout and left some Marine Corps recruiters overworked.

Key Topics

Culture, Tyler Butterworth, John Howell, Army National Guard, Army, Fort Knox